Always Yours
by I'd Rather Drown
Summary: Wally always thought he understood Artemis. Maybe he was wrong...


_"I should've done this a long time ago_." Wally couldn't understand why he'd said that. Even more so, he couldn't understand how Artemis could _let_ him kiss her, much less _agree_ with him. He hadn't even thought when he'd kissed her; he'd just done it. He assumed she would push him away. Instead she _welcomed _him. Something completely opposite to what he'd thought she'd do. And now, here they were, three years later, still fighting. Still throwing each other dirty looks and yelling smart comebacks.

Still in love.

But there was one problem: Artemis wanted out.

Wally stared at his girlfriend in disbelief. "Why?"

"I want to live a normal life. One I never got." Artemis was sitting on Wally's bed in his room at his house in Happy Harbor. Her chemistry homework was splayed all over his bed, and he was busy solving a chemical formula when she'd sprung her "news" on him.

"But you _are_ living a normal life..."

"Not really. Normal people don't make excuses to leave their classes and go fight a bank robber, Wally. They give excuses so they can go get high."

"But this is normal for a superhero..."

"I'm no hero." Artemis dropped her voice. Wally sighed, shaking his head and staring at the textbook below him. From the very beginning Artemis had had issues with self-confidence (even though Wally thought she was beautiful in every sense). But it wasn't just beauty she thought she lacked in. It was morality.  
Artemis' father was Sportsmaster, a well known criminal. Throughout the years he'd made both Artemis and her sister, Jade (a.k.a Cheshire) do numerous tasks just to survive. Her mother Paula was a retired criminal-and wheelchair bound. Artemis never enjoyed talking about her past, but Wally always persisted. One day, he'd break her down. Eventually.

He looked back up at her shook his head. "I've told you countless times. You _are_ a hero."

Artemis growled, something Wally had never heard before. She slid all her stuff off his bed and hopped up angrily. She marched over to the red punching bag hanging in the corner of his room and punched it. It swung backwards, hitting the wall and coming back at her. She grabbed a hold of the chain it hung from and rested her head against it. Even though she tried to breathe to calm herself down, she was still hyped.

Wally watched her in disbelief. Artemis had never gotten so mad she'd hit something. He watched her turn to face him with tears streaming down her face. All he could do was sit there while she literally fell apart in front of him.

"You think I wanna do this for the rest of my life? You think I wanna wake up during the middle of the night and miss my _sleep_ and fight crime? You think I wanna flunk outta my classes because I care all about the world?" She was throwing her hands against her sides, then up in the air, and repeated the process all while she raved. "I mean, maybe I wanna settle down! Maybe I wanna get married and have kids, Wally! Yes, that's right! I want the fucking life that I didn't see from my mom! And I can't be a hero too!" At this time, she started ranting in Vietnamese. Wally still sat there, staring in shock. "And all you can do is _sit there_! While I'm standing here yelling like crazy, you just fucking SIT THERE!" The tears and sobs came even faster, and she collapsed into a ball on the floor in the middle of Wally's room. Wally, now finally breathing and comprehending what just happened, moved his textbook out of the way and moved off his bed. Carefully maneuvering around the mess of Artemis' textbooks, he sat down next to her and went to wrap his arms around her. Still sobbing, Artemis pushed his arms away. But he was stronger than she, and he grabbed her and pulled her tightly to him.

"It's okay baby. It's okay. I love you."

She shook her head. "It's not okay. It's never okay. _I'm_ never okay."

Wally reached his fingers under her chin and turned her head towards him. Silently, he wiped the tears off her cheeks and kissed her eyelids. "I want all those things, too, baby."

"No you don't. You wanna be a hero. You always have."

"You know, I never said that you _couldn't_ get out. I only asked why. I just wanted to know your reasons, babe."

"I was implying that we both get out."

Wally was silent. Deep down, he knew this was coming. He just denied it. Artemis was so excited to go to college, get her own apartment. When she got a job, her first paycheck made her so happy she cried. Wally hadn't recognized how much Artemis wanted to be... _Normal_. He, on the other hand, _loved_ being different. He felt like he was something other than a random scientist like his Uncle. Then again, he had been born in a different environment than Artemis. She wanted a life different than her childhood. She wanted normalcy. And as a superhero, she wasn't getting that. Wally wasn't giving her that, either. Artemis was ultimately living in a world she didn't want. And, if Wally didn't comply sooner or later, he would lose her.

And he wasn't about to give her up.

Running his fingers through her hair, Wally leaned down to her ear and whispered between her sobs, "Then consider me out. Right now."

When Artemis looked up at the man who was holding her, she knew by the look in his eyes he would always be hers, and he would do anything to keep her happy. And his.

And she was in love with him.


End file.
